Time course of cardiovascular responses induced by mental and orthostatic challenges

doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2009.11.003

International Journal of Psychophysiology

Volume 75, Issue 1, January 2010, Pages 48-53

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2009.11.003 Get rights and content

Abstract

Cardiovascular responses to single stressors diminish over time. Interaction of different stressors influencing hemodynamic variables, indicative of stress-induced reactivity and physiological responses are, however, poorly understood. We investigated time course of mental (using mental arithmetic, MA) and orthostatic (using head up tilt, HUT) challenges induced responses in 16 males. Three protocols were used: HUT, MA and MA + HUT, with sessions randomized and two weeks apart. Hemodynamic responses were compared for 30 s epochs of stress application (stress_T1, stress_T2…). Compared to baseline, HUT, HUT + MA and MA applications affected heart rate (HR) (+ 15.1 ± 8.0 bpm, + 20.0 ± 9.2 bpm, + 11.9 ± 7.2 bpm, all p's < .001, respectively) and stroke volume (SV) (− 22.3 ± 8.1 ml, − 22.0 ± 10.4 ml, − 7.6 ± 8.7 ml, all p's < .001, respectively). HUT and MA + HUT induced HR increases were higher in stress_T2 compared to stress_T1 (p < .05) and reached maximum at stress_T2. HUT and MA + HUT further reduced SV in stress_T2 as compared to stress_T1 (p < .001); lowest SV was in stress_T2. Mean arterial pressure reached its minimum in stress_T1 during HUT and MA + HUT (− 6.0 ± 8.5 mm Hg, p < .001, − 4.4 ± 9.7 mm Hg, p < .01, respectively) but increased in MA (+ 4.3 ± 3.7 mm Hg, p < .01). Combination of MA + HUT resulted in different time courses of blood pressure responses as compared to HUT alone. We conclude that application of single or combined stress challenges lead to stressor- and time dependent-initial changes in cardiovascular responses. Our findings provide novel insights regarding the duration a stressor must be applied to elicit maximal cardiovascular responses.

Introduction

A common physical stress for the human body is standing, which leads to dizziness in a significant number of persons. When a healthy person stands, 10–15% (approximately 650–700 ml in a person weighing 70–80 kg) of blood is pooled in the legs. This leads to decreases in venous return (cardiac pre-load), cardiac filling pressure and output. With normal regulatory capability, arterial pressure remains unaltered or even can be slightly increased. Passive head up tilt (HUT) is regularly used to provide orthostatic challenge.

The neurovascular responses to mental stress (Lackner et al., 2009) include activation of the sympathetic system, increases in heart rate, cardiac output and blood pressure and leads to vasoconstriction in the splanchnic and renal regions but vasodilatation in skeletal muscles (Anderson et al., 1987, Jezova et al., 2004, Lurie & Benditt, 1996, Papousek et al., in press).

Cardiovascular responses to single stressors are known to diminish over time. Interaction of different stressors and their effects on hemodynamic variables, indicative of stress-induced reactivity and physiological responses, have, however, received less attention. Previously, a time dependent decrease in the magnitude of hemodynamic responses to mental (Kelsey et al., 2000, Sant'Anna et al., 2003, Sinyor et al., 1983) and orthostatic challenges (Sheriff et al., 2007, Toska & Walloe, 2002) has also been reported. However, the initial responses – as well as the exact duration required to elicit maximal responses – to mental challenge (MA), orthostatic challenge (HUT) and particularly combinations of both (MA + HUT) are poorly understood. As the mechanisms of cardiovascular regulation have been reported to be different in the two (orthostatic and mental) forms of stress, we hypothesized that maximal effects in the responses would differ between these stressors, when done singly or in combination.

Section snippets

Participants

We focused on healthy men whose age and physical characteristics were homogeneous because gender and age may affect orthostatic stress responses (Goswami et al., 2008). The study was carried out in healthy, non-obese, non-smoking, non-medicated men who were free from any somatic or mental condition. The study criteria were met by 19 participants of age 25 ± 3 years, weight 73 ± 7 kg, height 180 ± 5 cm, and a heart rate of 60 ± 6 bpm during supine rest (mean ± SD). Data from these participants have been

Results

Data presented here are from 16 Caucasian male participants of age 25.5 ± 2.9 years, weight 73.9 ± 7.8 kg and height 179.4 ± 4.3 cm. Means and SD of hemodynamic variables as well as the statistics are shown in Table 1.

The analysis revealed a significant main effect of protocol on heart rate (HR), stroke volume (SV) cardiac output (CO) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) but not for mean arterial pressure (MAP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and total peripheral resistance (TPR).

The analysis revealed a

Discussion

Application of single or combined stress challenges led to stressor- and time dependent-initial changes in cardiovascular responses. Within the time course of 30 s before stress application till 150 s of stress application (that is baseline_T0 and stress_T1–T5), the heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output, systolic, diastolic and mean arterial pressure as well as total peripheral resistance showed varying response patterns to the different stresses. In the period stress_T6–T10, only the stroke

Limitations

Our observations of the initial hemodynamic effects are based on single applications of these stressors. It is possible that these effects might be different with repeated applications of these stressors. Preliminary results from our laboratory, however, suggest that repeated mental challenge applications result in increases in cardiovascular responses every time they are applied (Lackner et al., 2009). Finally, we could not discriminate the effects of mental arithmetic from the known effects

Conclusions and future directions

As has been pointed out by others (Lovallo, 2005), stress reactivity has become an important area of examination for the study of specific disease risks, and could help to determine exactly which response components are engaged in particular subgroups. We could demonstrate that stressor- and time dependent-initial changes in cardiovascular responses occur when orthostatic and mental stressors are applied singly or in combination. These results suggest that the peak cardiovascular effects of

Funding

Funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG project 817086 ‘Orthocap’) and partly by SAIA, Slovakia.

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the participants for their time and patience. Special thanks go to Mr Andreas Jantscher for his excellent technical assistance. We also thank Dr Jerry J Batzel, Karl Franzens University, Graz, Austria for his essential help in proof reading our manuscript.

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Time course of cardiovascular responses induced by mental and orthostatic challenges

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Participants

Results

Discussion

Limitations

Conclusions and future directions

Funding

Acknowledgements

Comput. Biol. Med.

Int. J. Psychophysiol.

Acta Astronaut.

Comput. Biol. Med.

JACC

Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry

Int. J. Psychophysiol.

Biol. Psychol.

Mental stress increases sympathetic-nerve activity and arterial-pressure despite stimulation of arterial baroreceptors

Circulation

Radix astragali and orthostatic response: a double-masked crossover study

Aviat. Space Environ. Med.

LBNP: past protocols and technical considerations for experimental design

Aviat. Space Environ. Med.

Heart rate and stroke volume response patterns to augmented orthostatic stress

Clin. Auton. Res.

Allgemeine Depressions Skala

Reactive hyperemia in the human liver

Am. J. Physiol.: Gasterointest. Liver Physiol.